Cape Town two months from running out of water

After a years-long drought, its four million residents have been told the taps will be turned off in early April – unless it rains soon and a lot.

From that time - the so-called "Day Zero" - water will only be distributed from 200 collection points across the city and limited to 25 litres a day.

"We're facing a real, total disaster in Cape Town which is going to affect more than four million people," Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said.

"If people around the world, specifically South Africa, ever thought that climate change is just a fable or a fiction, we in South Africa as regards Cape Town are now seeing the real effects of climate change."

The government has already told residents to limit their water usage to 50 litres a day - equivalent to a two-and-a-half minute shower or four toilet flushes.

Local woman Sitaara Stodel is using water from her shower and washing machine to flush the toilet, but said others aren't doing enough.